Phaidra’s Post

You no longer need £1mn+ just to get your foot in the door with the best VC funds. How? At OSV we're working hard to bring that high ticket price down to £1,000 through our open-ended fund of funds model - giving more people access to the managers finding the next big startups and the high returns that come with it. And you're not just getting your investment placed with one VC - Old Street Ventures constructs a portfolio of multiple specialist VCs that reflects the best opportunities out there today. While a typical VC invests in 15-40 deals, OSV is providing exposure to over 100+ startups across the fastest growing sectors. This way we offset individual risks while indexing in the outperformance of the VC asset class for our investors. And by allocating your investment across multiple funds, vintages and strategies, we help create a more predictable returns profile, mitigating the dreaded J-curve effect. We have a team with years of knowledge of the industry at the helm. Welcome to Old Street Ventures. Visit our website to learn more and sign up to our waitlist to be first in line when we launch! https://www.oldstreet.vc/

[Edit: April fools 🙃 ] Introducing the world's most diversified private market investment vehicle: Harmonic's Fund of Fund of Fund of Funds is finally live! We're making it possible to get broad exposure to all the best startups by signing just one check. Wild response from our early testers: "In an industry dominated by bad ideas that sound like good ideas, the FoFoFoF is a revolutionary reversal of the status quo. After all, why try to beat the market if you can simply be the market?" - Geri Kirilova "When one invests in a VC fund, one is both hunter and prey. But by investing in a FoFoFoF, I feel like I'm not just the Apex Predator... I also get to be the Apex Prey." - Jay Kapoor “FoFoFoF is an investor in our funds, and because FoFoFoF offers risk-free returns, we can just take their capital, apply 10x leverage, and invest it right back into FoFoFoF. Talk about a free lunch! Internally we're calling this our "ouroboros initiative" and we couldn't be more excited about it.” - Leo Polovets "With our investors being part of FoFoFoF, it’s like playing 4D chess with partnerships and exposure for Buildstock. As we aim to 10x our revenue in the mystical world of endless fund layers, we're not just selling construction materials—we're stacking up strategic alliances like Legos" - Kathryn Thiele AIA CSI -- find out more at

Big news from Index Ventures! We’ve raised $2.3bn in new funds—an $800m venture fund and a $1.5 billion growth fund. Across nearly three decades of investing, this latest announcement is possible because of a strong foundation built by exceptional entrepreneurs, incredible LPs, and a team of investors, strategists, and operators all deeply committed to our craft. 108 Index-backed companies have reached a valuation of $1 billion or more, 23 have surpassed a $10 billion valuation, and 57 became publicly traded companies. I look forward to seeing what the next generation of entrepreneurs will create. I can only imagine it will be even better than what I can envision today :) https://lnkd.in/gDxiN8ig

Today on our mind: Startup secondaries, inspired by this post below by Industry Ventures The secondary market for VC-backed startups is experiencing a significant revival. Older VC funds are driving this change, fueled by new, larger secondary funds and a more positive private market sentiment. Sellers are now more realistic about pricing, leading to a narrowing bid-ask spread and increased deal activity. A prime example is Sequoia Capital's recent offer to buy $861 million worth of Stripe shares from investors in earlier Sequoia funds, reflecting the pressure from LPs for liquidity. Sequoia’s willingness to pay a $70 billion valuation—a notable increase from Stripe’s last round valuation of $50 billion—highlights the growing confidence in the market. The median discount on startup valuations has improved from 46% in December 2023 to 31% by June 2024, signaling market stabilization. Large players like Industry Ventures and StepStone Group are ramping up their secondary strategies. Industry Ventures raised $1.45 billion for its 10th secondaries fund, plus an additional $900 million for a hybrid fund. StepStone closed a $3.3 billion fund for VC secondaries. Even Lightspeed is considering becoming a registered investment adviser to deploy more capital into secondaries. The market dynamics are further influenced by aging VC funds seeking liquidity. For example, Isomer Capital, which launched a £100 million secondaries fund in April, is buying more pieces of venture funds and direct secondaries from high-net-worth individuals. This shift provides a crucial liquidity pathway for early investors and employees, reassuring founders amid challenging exit conditions. Moreover, the overall VC market generated $49 billion in exit value in the first half of 2024, similar to 2022 but far below the levels seen from 2019 to 2021. As companies that raised funding in 2021 or 2022 come back to market and seek new primary financings, it immediately creates a clearing price for secondaries trades. As the market matures, there’s a notable increase in both LP-led and GP-led deals, reflecting a more sophisticated and specialized secondary market. This evolution is crucial for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the private capital ecosystem, especially as public market exits remain uncertain. #VentureCapital #SecondaryMarket #StartupInvesting #Liquidity #VCFunds

Microfund competition getting tighter and tighter! 🔍 Venture Capital's Evolving Landscape: A Case Study 📉 The Exit of Countdown Capital: Jai Malik, founder of Countdown Capital, a fund focused on #industrial #startups, recently announced its closure in a four-page letter to limited partners. Malik’s decision underlines the intensifying competition in #venturecapital, especially for small funds. 🚀 The Challenge for Small Funds: Malik's revelation points to the difficulty of generating significant returns in a market dominated by #multistagefunds like Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund. These larger entities have been raising valuations, making it tough for smaller funds to find viable investment opportunities at reasonable entry valuations. 💡 Key Insights: The #Microfund Dilemma: Malik’s experience suggests that the microfund model – funds under $50 million – is facing a critical challenge. Even success in early rounds of top #startups like Anduril Industries, The Boring Company, and Redwood Materials would have required disproportionate investment for minimal equity. Changing #VC Dynamics: The #venturecapital industry has evolved, with a trend towards fewer but larger funds dominating all stages of investment, leaving little room for small, dedicated #seedfunds. A Shift in #Startups’ Preferences: Startups now prefer multistage behemoths due to their ability to provide substantial funding and support at all stages, overshadowing the mentorship and expertise once the hallmark of smaller funds. 🤔 Reflecting on #VCStrategies: Malik's exit from the venture capital scene raises critical questions about the future of small funds in an increasingly competitive market. It also highlights the need for new strategies and adaptation among small #venturecapitalists. 💬 Your Perspective: How do you see the role of small funds evolving in the venture capital ecosystem? What strategies can emerging funds adopt to survive and thrive in this competitive landscape? Thank you Kate Clark! #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #InvestmentTrends #CountdownCapital #VCChallenges #BusinessStrategy #TechIndustry

New Post: Peter Thiel-founded Valar Ventures raised a $300 million fund, half the size of its last one - https://lnkd.in/gNjn4zGz - The perception in Silicon Valley is that every investor would love to be in business with Peter Thiel. But the venture capital fundraising environment has become so difficult, that even Valar Ventures, one of the VC firms he helped found, has raised a much smaller fund this year compared to previous ones.  Thiel set up © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. - #news #business #world -------------------------------------------------- Download: Stupid Simple CMS - https://lnkd.in/g4y9XFgR -------------------------------------------------- or download at SourceForge - https://lnkd.in/gNqB7dnp

Last chance to co-invest in Euphemia’s Co Ventures syndicate deal on the Aussie Angels platform, alongside 🌱 Judy Anderson-Firth, Maxine Minter and me. Deal closes tonight (Mon 8-Jul-2024) just before midnight Invest here: https://lnkd.in/eCh8yfDf We completely oversubscribed (twice) in the first week 🚀⚡️and have secured an additional (final) allocation. Investments are being issued on a first-come first-served basis. Co Ventures is one of Australia’s first dedicated pre-seed Venture Capital funds, led by Maxine Minter 💕 Disclaimer: Always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal Note prior to making an investment decision 👀

A good read from Institutional Investor and data from Revere (Chris Shen)! Big VC Funds Are Underperforming Smaller Ones - "The smaller venture capital funds outperform large ones that have the presumed advantages of scale, brand, and experience, a report shows." - "A smaller fund is roughly 50 percent more likely to return more than 2.5-times TVPI than a large one." - "The performance gap between small and large funds is even wider when considering the cumulative internal rate of return. Larger funds have an average IRR of 9.7 percent, compared to the average 17.4 percent IRR of smaller ones" 🙏 Please follow 1982 Ventures for more updates! https://lnkd.in/dM7h6cRC

Is there a better way to raise capital than VC funds? Statistically, only 0.05% of startups raise funds from a VC. The odds of drowning in your lifetime are 0.09%. Read that! You have a much greater chance of drowning. What's a better way? Use a Reg. D 506(c) exemption with the SEC and partner with a great marketing firm that knows how to market to accredited investors.

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